Offense yet to overcome lefties

For as good as the team has been offensively compared to last year, it has found no success against lefthanded pitching. The lineup entered Monday night hitting 20 points lower against lefties than against righties, and in the more important on-base plus slugging, there is a 96-point difference, .742 vs. .646.

And this is not a lefty-on-lefty issue. The righthanders are struggling too.

Carlos Lee is 0-for-12 against lefties, Chris Johnson 1-for-12. Chris Snyder, used in what has almost been a platoon situation behind the plate, is 1-for-10, the same as switch-hitter Jed Lowrie.

Jose Altuve, meanwhile, is 7-for-15 against lefties in trying to fill that void of lefty-killer relinquished by the traded Jeff Keppinger and Jason Bourgeois.

Of course, these haven’t been just any lefties the Astros have faced; two have been among the league’s best in Gio Gonzalez and defending Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw. The other starters: soft-tossers Jamie Moyer and Ted Lilly.

“Very contrasting lefthanders,” hitting coach Mike Barnett said. “Two of them are relatively soft crafty type lefthanders and two of them are really power lefthanded hitters with good fastballs and plus breaking balls.”

In Randy Wolf, they face more of the former. While individual matchup stats must be taken with a kilogram of salt, the four Astros regulars or semi-regulars who have faced him (Carlos Lee, Chris Snyder, Chris Johnson and Jose Altuve) are a combined 10-for-60 (.167).

“You really need to stick with your gameplan and force him to get the ball up over the plate,” Barnett said. “There’s no doubt about that. We can’t give in and start helping him out by chasing a lot of pitches out of the zone. Traditionally he’s pitched very well against us.”

Crane to spruce up local parks

The Astros plan to work with local corporations to renovate a dozen city parks to build children’s interest in baseball, Astros owner Jim Crane said Monday.

The project will cost $6 million – half to renovate the parks and half to maintain the fields and baseball leagues, which will focus on kindergartners through 13-year-olds.

Through the Astros in Action Foundation, Crane told members of the Houston Association of Black Journalists, he is enlisting corporate support to fund the project. Halliburton, Calpine, BlueCross BlueShield of Texas and CenterPoint Energy are among the companies supporting the work.

Seeking ‘the best balance’

Ignoring the pitcher in the No. 9 spot, the Astros have used 13 different lineups in their 17 games, only two of them more than once. But stability for the moment appears apparent as the lineup used Monday was used for the fourth time, with Jed Lowrie hitting No. 2 and Jose Altuve No. 8.

Brad Mills acknowledged that this was the lineup when facing a righthanded pitcher. The 1-8 spots proceed left-switch-right-right-left-right-left-right.

“I think the batting order that we have right now, if we can produce the kind of runs that we want to produce, that’s the best balance,” Mills said. “And that’s what we try to do is we want to balance this thing out.”